I love guns! I shoot a little over 6600 rounds of ammo a year through 28 rifles and 11 pistols. I cast bullets and reload for all of them.

Once in awhile I walk through Academy and I'm horrified of the prices that people are paying for factory ammo. A box for my 444 Marlin was $63! To cast and reload it cost me 36˘ or $7.23/box which includes the depreciation on all my casting and reloading equipment. You would never find 300 Savage at Academy but to make my Rem 722 in that cartridge go bang it is only 34˘/round.

I do live on a ranch and have a complete rifle and pistol range and shoot anywhere from 30 to 50 hogs a year plus the deer hunting. I really don't know what people do to find a place to shoot. I'm serious, as I'm getting older and one day will need to move on from all the work involved here. It will have to be somewhere, some small place, that offers complete shooting facilities.

I've always thought that the State's Wildlife Management Areas ought to have complete, staffed, ranges like other State's support through hunter's tax dollars. With the lack of shooting facilities in this State, one day there might be no one to fund the WMAs one day or TPWD for that matter.

Just for fun (and because I can) I bring a different rifle to my ranch, each time I hunt. If it's been a while since I have hunted with a particular rifle, I take it to a range and shoot a few rounds. In nearly every case , the rifle has not changed zero (sometimes after 5-6 years). The next shot is on game and it is usually one shot.My rifles range in caliber from .22-250 to 45-70. All of my rifles are wood stocked/blued. I reload every caliber and still have boxes of ammo with only 2 or 3 fired cases.Longest distance (blind to feeder) is 143 yards on my place.Starting with a Red Rider BB gun, I learned to make the first shot count, my sons were trained the same way.This year was the 18th year I have hunted/owned the ranch. I have killed a deer on opening day for 18 straight years.I have absolutely no problem with individuals that burn a lot of ammo every year. I just don't think it's necessary to be a good hunter. Different strokes for different folks.